Two Roads
by Sister Madly
Summary: Post movie. Ed returns to Haushofer's villa in desperation and sees an old face. Why is he there, and will this person help Ed with his goal? Slight angst, hint at character death, possibly in the plural.


**DISCALIMER**: Fullmetal Alchemist and all related characters, settings, and plots are the property of Hiromu Arakawa and the companies which have produced it. I do not claim to own any of those things, and I do not make any money from this writing.

* * *

Ed stood atop the hill overlooking the once great villa that housed the gate, hands shoved in the pockets of his trousers.

Had it really been two years since he last saw this place? It seemed as if just last week he and Al had set out to travel the world, looking for new adventures. Ed could still recall the grin on Al's face when he first set his eyes on the Eiffel Tower in France, the absolute rapture when they had arrived in America.

They would surely find adventure in America, he had said.

The corner of Ed's mouth twisted up into a halfhearted smirk at this thought. They _had_ found adventure. Just not the kind they were looking for.

Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and began descending the hill.

Karl Haushofer's villa, once used by the Thule organization, had since fallen into disrepair. Many of the windows were boarded up, and graffiti had appeared within the time he and Al had been traveling. Rumors of ghosts spread with the help of Fritz Lang, still a good friend of Ed's, had kept the place from being bought, even though Haushofer had disappeared. Now, it was just an empty shell littered with garbage and old memories.

Like the first time Ed entered the building, he slid through a broken window, not bothering to be careful. There was no longer any glass in the frame, having been blown out long ago. There was a slight crunching of remnant shards as Ed stepped foot into the dark hallway. Without pausing, he made his way to the place that lay just below the gate; the place where Alfons Heiderich had worked so diligently on his rockets.

As he walked, Ed thought back to his first brief encounter of this world when Dante manipulated Rose's baby to send him through the gate. He had awoken in the body of this world's Ed during a zeppelin attack on London, which, though frightening, was amazing. Less amazing and more bothersome was the presence of his father.

Hohenheim had told him many things, but Ed could easily call to mind the most important part of their discussion.

_"So in return, she sent you beyond the gate?"_

_"Not beyond the gate, just inside it. And she separated my mind, body, and soul while I was inside, leaving me to wander in that limbo forever. But despite her efforts I put myself back together and wound up here."_

Ed had never been sure that he and Al had managed to close the gate. After all, without alchemy, the very reason the gate between the worlds came into existence, how could they close it? He was glad now that he never pushed the matter. Al believed they had done it, and Ed wouldn't make the smile on his little brother's face disappear for anything in the world. So they moved on.

But now he was back, alone. So very alone.

Because of the rumors, the villa had been left quite alone during those two years. Ed noticed, with a kind of distant satisfaction, that all of Alfons's equipment had been left untouched. There was even another plane similar to the one Ed had been sent in to follow Eckart. Walking towards the control panel, he thought that if he could come up with a quick device to pull the lever-

"Ed?"

The young man in question pivoted to face the owner of the voice, quick as lightning. His eyes widened perceptibly, instantly recognizing the face he saw.

"Noa. What are you doing here?"

The gypsy woman stepped out from behind the pillar she had been observing Ed from and said, "I've been following you ever since..." She looked at the ground, almost cringing, afraid to finish that sentence.

"Yeah, well. I suppose Lang told you?" he replied, hiding behind an old mask of passivity. Noa nodded.

"I thought so." He paused for a moment before asking, "Why are you here?"

She let her dark brown eyes settle on Ed's and said simply, "To help you."

**#####**

It had been lucky that the rocket fuel in the plane hadn't spoiled; it had been even luckier that the generator supplying energy to the external control panel still worked as well. After Ed determined that everything needed was present, it had been a walk in the park for Ed to teach Noa the proper way to work it. Of course, he couldn't be sure the gate was actually still up there.

As Ed stepped up into the cockpit, he thought it didn't matter whether it actually was or wasn't. He had told Noa that it was definitely up there; after all, he didn't foresee any willingness to help him on her part if there was a chance he would simply end up smashing into the ceiling. But even if that was the case, it would all be okay in the end. He would only die and be reunited with the person closest to his heart.

If the gate _was_ up there, he would simply end up back in Amestris; maybe. Mustang would have been able to close the gate on his side, even if Ed did think he was an incapable bastard. If the gate was up there, and Ed was lucky, he would come out on the other side. If not, he would be stuck inside the gate probably, which would basically be the equivalent of dying, or smashing into the ceiling.

So it was all the same, really, he thought. Ed buckled himself into the airplane and gave Noa the OK, a fake grin slapped on his face.

The rocket began to rise, so that Ed's back was at a parallel to the ground. The heavy darkness lingering around the ceiling loomed ahead of Ed now, and he let his façade drop. This would be the determining factor in the next chapter of his life. He would live or die, return to Amestris or be reunited with the other half of his soul.

The quiet of the cockpit was shattered as the plane rumbled to life with a steady blast from the rocket. The glass shook in its frame, and the sheer energy the rocket was putting out set trembles to run throughout Ed's body. When Noa lifted the last lever, the plane shot off into the air, taking Ed to see which of his fates the world would give him. Would he be forced to live, or would he be let to die?

Secretly, Ed thought dying would be better.


End file.
